3 posts tagged “music”

  Wanna know something? Well, I'm kind of peeved at Vox (again). I keep having problems, because apparently I'm the first person to ever be audacious enough to want to put images directly into posts. Now you would think that because this is a feature Vox seems to be kind of proud of, they would make it easy to do. They do, they just also happen to make it very easy to screw up. Somehow I end up freezing Firefox or blasting my
fully-written post into the stratosphere of lost posts and emails...
And then I must get on my knees and pray to the Internet Gods for
forgiveness, may they free me from the karmic bonds of all my great web-wide sins.
  That also reminds me. Toshiba-san hasn't been very well recently, which is a cause of
great concern to me. I may have to take him to the doctor-guy for some kind
of check-up, as long as it's "complimentary".
I'm not sure what happened, but for some reason things have
been running kind of slow since the middle of the week...Certain
sites have been kinda wonky and such. I'm not sure what could be
the problem, though, considering that I deleted over 300 files and moved
a bunch of stuff onto backup so it wouldn't be weighing down the system.
The internet also takes a while to start up, although that has been a lot
better lately... And the left-clicker is broken. But that happened a long time
ago, haha....
  I guess it just isn't all that simple anymore.

Anyway... 
I think it's funny, because I had never listened to LM.C before last night.
I didn't even know they existed. But then I was watching... I can't even
remember. It was another long youtube sprint. I was watching something
and one of the "You Might Enjoy..." videos on the selection was...I can't
remember the title, either, but it was an LM.C song with an interesting title.
If my understanding is correct, most of their songs have such interesting titles.
Oh! The song was....no, wait, nevermind. It's no good, I really can't remember.
  They finally seem to be a band that doesn't get mobbed with Visual Kei
labels (?)...They're a good example of kei-less rockers, haha. Their look is
really weird...Very '90s. It almost reminds me of more the American band
look... Not in a bad way, just...in a way. I think they sound pretty interesting,
and they stand out of the crowd. Their PVs are very strange... A couple of songs
in particular jumped out at me, and I think this is really exciting, because this week
is the week where I set out to discover all these hit songs that I can't stop
listening to. I'm just lucky if iTunes happens to have the songs I find. ^^

I'm going to do a series of posts about what I think of as some of the greatest Jrock bands out there. I've listened to a lot of Jrock and Jpop, mostly through the radio, so I've heard a lot of what's out there. I've been over my head with things lately, so I can't say these will come in a prompt fashion, but if you're reading, then keep looking for them, because I'll find time to get one on here when I can.

 Starting right off in alphabetical order, I want to give the place of honor to a new band that I think deserves a lot of press: abingdon boys school (typeset in lower case).

  abingdon boys school [アビングドン　ボイズ　スクール」was founded only a few years back, in 2005, signed by Japan's Epic Records Japan (which also signed T. M. as a solist). Fronted by popular soloist, T. M. Revolution on vocals, the band was pretty successful, and I think they got pretty high on the ORICON* charts, within the top 10 definitely, but I think it was somewhere between 5-2. Their first single, Innocent Sorrow was released in 2006, and sold a whopping 75,533 copies, with an ORICON weekly peak at #5. Not bad for a debut. The single was also used as the OP theme for the popular anime name D Gray Man. Also not bad for a debut. Watch the official music video here.

  ABS, as they are commonly abbreviated, originally caught my eye because of their unique and interesting style, both in image and music. They took their name from the British all-male school, Abingdon School, where apparently the renowned British group Radiohead was formed. In synch with their name, ABS founded their image on the same school-grounds. Their typical uniform in PVs and concerts are private-school uniforms, usually black pin-stripe suits with the ABS emblem on the chest, or a blazer and kilt. While he can be found solo in tight white suits like you'd see in Mobile Suit Gundam or something similar, with gelled white hair etc, fronting ABS he sports a pair of large, thick-rimmed eye-glasses that make him look about ten years younger and ten times dorkier. The look works, and they stay consistent with their image.
 
  I have to say, even as an elitist Jrock-listener and fan, after a while many Japanese bands start to sound the same. Which is to be expected, I suppose, considering how thickly populated the rock scene is, and how the genres still seem pretty narrow, as far as it goes. American rock music has been booming for quite a few decades now, but you have to remember that Japanese rock didn't have its fireworks until the mid 80s, with names like Ozaki Yutaka, Buck-Tick, and X Japan. As far as the world is concerned, the Jrock scene is still quite young.
  With this in mind, I find the ABS sound immediately striking, and they stand out to me as one of the most unique bands in the genre. With a steady hard-rock sound, they mix it up (quite literally) with strong keyboarding and, did you guess?, a pair of turn-tables. It works, they've written some incredible music, and the sound is really different and unique. Then layer over that with TM's voice-- it's whiny and reedy, but really powerful. His vibrato? Are you kidding me? That guy can wail!
 
  If you've listened to a good share of Jrock, then you're probably familiar with the use of English lyrics. Gackt wrote an extremely beautiful and opinionated piece (but that just about sums him up anyway) about the use of English lyrics in Japanese music, which will always stand out quite clearly in my mind, for as long as I study the Japanese language. Gackt..... T__T Moving on. While it's in demand (I guess?), I still find that few bands can actually pull it off. Mostly people don't notice because they're a few strange and random English words thrown into a Japanese verse, and it just doesn't compute to us. One of the big faces in the use of English lyrics would be big-name L'Arc~En~Ciel (which I've mentioned briefly, but won't elaborate on since most Jrock fans know them). Laruku frontman Hyde is fairly confident in English, and sings it well, in large and small quantities, varying on song and style. His all-English piece, Cape of Storms, is quite as enjoyable to listen to as any all-Japanese piece.
  Another prominent facade in English lyrics would be ABS. Although not nearly as proficient as Hyde, TM proceeds undaunted in his singing and writing in English. With quite a collection of English pieces, you may even wonder if the barbarian-lyricist deigns to sing in Japanese. Well, he does, and quite amazingly. I think the fact that he writes ALL-English songs sets he and Hyde apart in a little niche. I'm a little torn about the English pieces by ABS. I like some of them, and don't like some of them. That's kinda the end of it.

  Yeah...here we go. Me and Buck-Tick again. ABS made some great cover-numbers for different band-memorium albums. They did a cover of Luna: Sea's Sweet Coma Again for the L:S cover compilation, Luna: Sea Memorial Cover Album. The one that gets my blood flowing, though, is Doresu by Buck-Tick on the compilation, Parade~ Respective Tracks of Buck-Tick.
  A world-renowned Buck-Tick enthusiast, I got totally excited about this. One of my favorite bands doing an extremely good cover of one of my favorite bands. Here are links to both Buck-Tick's and ABS' versions. I listen to BT when I want to be melancholy, and to ABS when I want to get pumped. ^__^
  On the topic of songs and albums, ABS has only one full-length album to date, which was released in 2007, under the title abingdon boys school. The album featured three of their four singles (Innocent Sorrow, Nephilim, and Howling,  excluding Blade Chord.) as well as the Dress cover mentioned above. The album comes heartily reccomended, and if by now I haven't convinced you to order it, then...at least you know about them, I guess.

For more info on abingdon boys school, visit their official website. And look forward to their 2009 single: JAP!

  You've been reading GacktPause's Secret Garden. If you like my posts, please comment and let me know!    
 
   
1- ORICON Charts, a music rating system with a weekly number. To make it on the ORICON charts (especially in the upper numbers) is a huge honor, and you'll find most excellent bands and solists on there, such as Utada Hikaru, Hamasaki Ayumi, Gackt, etc etc. All the popular names you'd like to see on there.  ORICON is "Original Confidence" contracted.
 

Note: This piece was originally published on my discontinued LiveJournal blog: the Secret Garden Shimbun by GacktPause...It is now happily re-posted here on SECRET GARDEN for your viewing pleasure!
Originally posted October, 2007

BUCK-TICK is:

  Sakurai Atsushi (櫻井 敦司): vocals

Imai Hisashi (今井 寿): guitar, electronics, and miscellaneous noise

Hoshino Hidehiko (星野 英彦): guitar and keyboard

Higuchi Yutaka (桶口豊): bass

Yagami Toll (ヤガミ・トール): drums and percussion

So Netflix (my ultimate anime source god, thank you Netflix I love it) had this great thing going, where they had three discs of the anime Trinity Blood (a rendition of the popular manga by Sunao Yoshida, who unfortunately died an untimely death halfway through the series’ life, and his course was passed on to an artist friend). They had discs 1, 2, and 4. Why? I have no idea. But anyway, I was definitely watching Trinity Blood, and they had this low-key, jazzy, super chill opening theme. The singer had a definitely sexy, smoky, unique voice.

To note, the Trinity Blood opening theme, Doressu: Bloody trinity Mix (English- “Dress”) was actually written long before the creation of the anime (and was released on the single Doressu). But I digress. For those who don’t “Get” the process, you always watch the opening theme for anime, unless, of course, it really sucks. Usually they don’t, but, well, you get the idea. So several episodes later and I find myself on the computer thinking, “Buck-Tick, what?”

Pronounced Baakku-Chiikoo by the Japanese, it is apparently pronounced like the Japanese word for a certain type of firework. If you don’t get it at first, take one look at the guitarist for BUCK-TICK, then it kind of makes more sense. Or at least, you see why it was named that. Anyway, pronounced Baaku-Chiikoo by the Japanese, BUCK-TICK began in 1984 as a Japanese pop/rock/Goth-rock five-man band. They super-debuted in 1987 with the album Sexual xxxxx! To great applause.

 While other bands such as Luna: Sea and XJapan were wearing squid-wigs to make Marie Antoinette burn with fish-department-envy, and wailing out whiny lyrics, a blonde, leather-pants-clad Atsushi was prancing around the stage making some kind of risqué statement. Their music from this era sounded upbeat, punk-popish and sported titles such as Sexual xxxxx! And Taboo.

 Come the early ‘90s BUCK-TICK took on a darker look, and left the ‘80s hair and disco-lights behind for a classier, more elegant style. Titles turned to themes like "La Vie En Rose", "I HATE YOU ALL" and other such dark, blood-red and black velvet-image-inspiring subject matter. By 2005, BUCK-TICK was climaxing their darker side with what I dub Vampire Hunter D rock, i.e. brimmed D hat and black cane.   

 Part of the greatness of BUCK-TICK is the inability to place them in a genre. Their style covers a spread of punk, Goth-rock, Visual Kei, pop, Vampire Hunter D, rock, and sex-rock* (don't raise eyebrows, their debut album was named Sexual xxxxx!).

  Their sometimes drugged-up electronica, moody melodies and morbid lyrics, paired with Sakurai Atsushi’s versatile, gorgeous voice and commanding on-stage presence make for a unique, colorful bouquet of vocal music that is a definite refreshment from today’s unvaried schemes. One can go from Kiss Me Goodbye, ‘80s pop, to Muma: The Nightmare, where Atsushi creates an unbelievable performance complete with a candlelit, fabulous venue, historical costume, cultic chanting and writhing possession.

  In light (ha-ha) of the darker tones of October and November, moving into the moody melancholy of late autumn and winter, watching their 2005 13^th Floor With Diana Live concert consumes most of my time and energy.

  BUCK-TICK’s repertoire includes 26 singles, 15 albums, and 15 special releases.

BT's official website

Sakurai Atsushi’s solo website

Please support this artist by buying, and not downloading, their albums. Domo arigatou, Cowboy~

NOTE: I HAVE PASTED THIS WRITE-UP FROM MY DISCONTINUED SHIMBUN. I HAVE DONE MY BEST TO RE-FORMAT IT, INCLUDING RE-SIZING AND COLORING FONTS, AND UNLINKING A FEW LINKS. ANY DISCREPANCIES ARE NOT NECESSARILY MY FAULT!